The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) presented its Annual Report 2023 in Berlin today. During the publication at the DAAD General Assembly, DAAD President Mukherjee emphasised the need to strengthen the international cooperation area of science in times of geopolitical crises and conflicts.

"Whether it's Russia's war in Ukraine, the challenges of cooperation with China or support for Israeli universities despite international calls for a boycott, the science cooperation area is facing a variety of stress and endurance tests in the current global situation. It is up to all of us to preserve, shape and strengthen this area of cooperation in order to tackle the pressing problems of our time together in a scientifically sound manner," appealed DAAD President Prof. Dr Joybrato Mukherjee to the DAAD members. In the past year, the DAAD had worked intensively on shaping and strengthening this area of cooperation and gave the representatives of the member universities and their student bodies examples of its work in its annual report. 

"Over 140,000 DAAD-funded students and researchers from all over the world are a living sign of the importance of academic cooperation and international academic exchange. The number of funding recipients shows that 2023 was the year of the post-corona normalisation of academic mobility," emphasised the DAAD President in Berlin. Last year, the DAAD also provided important impetus for the German higher education and science system. 

Attracting experts and international researchers

At the beginning of 2023, the DAAD presented a paper on skilled workers that outlines ways to combat the shortage of skilled workers in Germany through international students. In autumn, with the support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), it launched a skilled workers initiative to support 104 universities in supporting and qualifying international students as future skilled workers. The DAAD is providing the selected universities with a total of around 120 million euros from BMBF funds until 2028. 

Academic protection programmes

With the many crises and conflicts around the world, the importance of DAAD protection programmes for students and academics under threat increased once again in 2023. In four protection programmes, the DAAD either enabled threatened students and doctoral candidates to be admitted to Germany or to continue their qualifications in safer neighbouring countries. Last year, around 370 students and doctoral candidates received funding and support through the protection programmes.

Ukraine, Israel, China

In 2023, the DAAD continued to focus on maintaining and expanding its university partnerships with Ukraine. Since Russia's invasion of the neighbouring country, around 18,000 Ukrainians have been supported in various programmes both in Germany and locally in Ukraine.

Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas in October 2023, the DAAD expressed solidarity and sympathy with the people and its partner institutions in Israel and worked intensively to maintain academic exchange even under challenging conditions. In 2023, a total of almost 550 students and academics from Israel received funding. The DAAD also campaigned for educational opportunities for young people from the Palestinian territories: In 2023, it sponsored around 220 students, academics and researchers from the Palestinian territories to study or conduct research in Germany.

The DAAD welcomed the German government's China strategy published in mid-2023. At the beginning of this year, the DAAD published its own China strategy to clarify how it deals with China as a "partner, competitor and systemic rival" for German universities. Following the end of the coronavirus measures, the DAAD is also working to revitalise academic exchange with China. In 2023, it supported a total of around 560 Germans on visits to China and 1,100 Chinese on visits to German universities. 

DAAD funding at a high level

In 2023, the DAAD funded a total of 140,803 students, graduates or researchers on academic mobility abroad or to Germany. This included 18,748 individual scholarship holders, 11,481 of whom came from abroad. 67,500 people were funded in DAAD projects, and around 54,600 people worldwide were academically mobile with Erasmus funding in the EU Erasmus+ programme. The two most important subject groups for those receiving funding were law, economics and social sciences (around 41,000 funding recipients) and engineering (around 23,000 funding recipients). Women accounted for 52 per cent of funding recipients from abroad and 60 per cent from Germany. In the previous year (2022), the DAAD funded a total of 140,873 people.

DAAD employees and alumni

In Bonn, Berlin and in 57 DAAD offices worldwide, 1,179 employees are committed to promoting and maintaining academic exchange. Around 400 lecturers were working at foreign universities with DAAD funding. Since 1950, the DAAD has supported a total of 1.8 million students and researchers from Germany and 1.25 million scholarship holders from abroad in their academic careers.